Gotterup, who played three years at Rutgers and won player-of-the-year awards as a senior at Oklahoma, gets into the Masters for the first time next April.

Only six years have passed since Rory McIlroy stepped onto the first tee of the 2019 Open with all eyes on him.

Yet the magnitude of his spring success has only ratcheted up the fervor on Antrim’s north coast, with as many as 290,000 spectators expected to brave rain and biting coastal winds to watch the game’...